112WATCH Leads a Campaign against Leader of a Vigilante Group

Major-General Rienthong Nanna, who is the director of Mongkutwattana Hospital in Thailand, has been preparing to relocate to Perth, Western Australia, to spend his retirement. 112WATCH is expressing its serious concern over the relocation to Australia of Rienthong for the fact that he has long led several vicious campaigns to harass many Thais who think differently from him.

To be more specific, he has specially targeted critics of the monarchy, exploiting the loopholes of the lèse-majesté law to punish those critics as well as using vigilante groups to carry out witch hunts on social media. In 2013, he set up “Rubbish Collection Organisation” – a Thai state-sponsored ultra-royalist vigilante group to supposedly eradicate Thailand’s “social rubbish” and to annihilate lèse-majesté offenders completely. As a result of this effort, many Thais were charged under lèse-majesté law, and some fled Thailand to seek a refugee status overseas. Around the same time when Thailand was characterised by colour-coded politics with the red-shirted being perceived as anti-monarchists, Rienthong announced that he would not treat red-shirt patients and even called them “buffaloes”– a derogatory term in the Thai vernacular. Recently, he called upon businesses to not hire youths who participated in protests against the Prayuth Chan-ocha government and who had supported the call for royal reforms.

112 WATCH, together with four pro-democracy organisations, have sent letters to the Australian Ambassador to Bangkok, Angela Macdonald. They are:

1. 112WATCH
2. The Australian Alliance for Thai Democracy
3. Thai Rights Now (USA)
4. The Association of Thai Students in Europe for Liberal Democracy
5. Thai Democratic Movement in Canada

The purpose of this initiative  is two-fold. First, it serves to inform of Rienthong’s intention to relocate to Australia. It is presumable that, since he has continued to harass many of his fellow countrymen who think differently from him, he might use Australia as a ground to continue to violate the human rights of other Thais. Second, and more importantly, it seeks to request the Australian government to reconsider its permission to allow Rienthong to settle in Australia. In his Facebook statement dated November 11, 2022, Rienthong provocatively said that the Australian government is welcoming a tyrant/fascist like himself. 112WATCH has a high respect for Australia as a country which always cherishes democracy and champions human rights. Australia is the beacon of democracy in this part of the world. For Australia to grant a permit to someone who has fiercely obstructed democracy and dangerously violated human rights, it would only be a disappointment for friends of Australia.

Last week, Pavin Chachavalpongpun set up a petition at change.org to call for the Australian government not to allow Rienthong to settle in Australia. To date, there have been 13,333 supporters for this petition. Please see the link here: https://chng.it/5CrQQG76Bf.

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112WATCH รณรงค์เรียกร้องให้ออสเตรเลียไม่รับเหรียญทองเข้าประเทศ

มาตรการกำจัด พลตรีนายแพทย์ เหรียญทอง แน่นนา ได้เริ่มขึ้นแล้ว 112WATCH ได้ส่งจดหมายถึงเอกอัครราชทูตออสเตรเลีย (Angela Macdonald) ประจำกรุงเทพ และส่งไปยังสถานเอกอัครราชทูตออสเตรเลียประจำประเทศไทย เรียกร้องให้ออสเตรเลียปฏิเสธการเข้าเมืองของเหรียญทอง โดยมีองค์กรที่ร่วมลงนาม ดังนี้:

1. 112WATCH
2. The Australian Alliance for Thai Democracy
3. Thai Rights Now (USA)
4. The Association of Thai Students in Europe for Liberal Democracy
5. Thai Democratic Movement in Canada

นอกจากนี้ คนไทยในออสเตรเลียจะส่งจดหมายโดยตรงไปที่นายกรัฐมนตรีออสเตรเลีย กระทรวงต่างประเทศออสเตรเลีย และ Border Control ของออสเตรเลียด้วย ทั้งนี้ การร่วมลงชื่อที่ change.org ยังมีอยู่ ตอนนี้ได้ลายชื่อมากกว่า 13,000 คน 112WATCH ต้องการการสนับสนุนจากคุณ ลงได้ที่ https://chng.it/5CrQQG76Bf